Salvage
by Code Breaker
Summary: Chase Lonehart, Arkhunter and former Historical Salvage Expert, gets hired by Ara Shondu to recover something. Based in the "Defiance" game and show universe.


WARNING: The following fan fiction story is set within the game/TV show universe of _Defiance_, copyrighted to NBC/Universal and Trion Worlds. They had no part in the creation of this story. Chase Lonehart, his backstory and personality were created by me for the game. The story is created by me, based on a gameplay concept I posted in the suggestion section of the _Defiance_ forums. The story does not reflect the gameplay 100% as conceived, only using elements presented from the gameplay concept. I started work on this story, basing it at the spot in where I was in the game at the time, and completed this story long after completing the main storyline.

_Salvage_

by Code Breaker (aka CB2001)

_Chapter 1: 'Cause I'm The Wanderer_

Location: Mount Tam, Map Coordinates 1555, 1533

"Chase, it's time to wake up," the synthetic female voice echoed in his head. "It's 7 a.m. and a fine morning too."

Chase Lonehart groaned as he pushed himself up into a sitting position in the backseat of his orange Dodge Challenger RT. He sometimes couldn't stand the EGO's cheery voice when it came to some of the situations he found himself in. This particular wakeup was not bad. He didn't like sleeping in the backseat of his roller, but it's not like there were many open places to stay in the Bay Area with almost what seemed like thousands of others out there. Between the E-Reps, Von Bach hired guns, 99ers, Volge, Hellbugs and everyone/everything else, it was like the Wild West all over again. Most of everyone in the Bay looking for fortune, safety of community, power or that one big Arkfall to suit whatever needs they have. For Chase, all of that was at the very bottom of the list of things that he was looking for. He was looking for something that no amount of scrip, not even an Arkfall, could give him.

He maneuvered himself into the driver seat, pulling on his baseball cap that had the word LAW written across it. Honestly, he liked wearing it, but he disliked the color and the fact something was written on it. He would have preferred a solid blue one, just as much as he didn't prefer the colors on the E-Rep Peacekeeper outfit he wore. Chase told himself that someday, he was going to find a better outfit to wear. Finding a spot to park the Challenger on the mountainous terrain of Mount Tam was a bit of a challenge, especially going up hill. He found what he considered to be the "top", which was the only actual section that appeared to be made of stone. The spot he parked was large enough to have a small camp site, but he chose to sleep in the car because he didn't want any unexpected visitors like a Hellbug or worse sneaking up on him as he slept. After being up for days on end, he needed to get some sleep, which required some sort of spot for safety. Getting up to the spot was difficult, requiring having to go all out in some spots, often using the boost to gain enough speed for the steeper portions of the plain and darting over to another incline by riding a dip down one side and up the other, while other spots of required to slow down to a crawl to avoid slipping off the sides. Coming back down, however, was easy since it was all down hill. He turned on the car's MP3 player. Sniff 'n' The Tears blared away with "Driver's Seat" as he followed the terrain until he found himself back at the road near the Crater in the Marin area.

Chase drove on the road, occasionally swerving, riding on the road side, taking a dirt road or even jumping off into the unpopulated lands to avoid whatever would be in the road until he finally reached the Muir Processing Plant. There were people all waiting to use the Supply and Echelon Vendors, and some raiding the lock box. Chase approached the E-Rep soldier there, checking to see if there were any missions available that required some hired guns.

"Sorry, nothing yet," the soldier told him. "The last available job with your experience level was fully booked about half an hour ago."

"What about putting me up with the next one? You normally have at least twelve missions ready to go. And I don't care for that experience level crap either."

"You know the rules, Lonehart. You can't jump into a mission when you don't have the experience for it."

"Forget about it," Chase muttered as he walked away.

_Great_, he thought. _Another day of just wandering around and hoping to come across something._

He got back into the Challenger, and sat for a moment. It was moments like this that he wish he hadn't left Freedom, Alabama, or Defiance for that matter. He recalled how his father, himself and their small band of salvagers used to locate buildings that had been swallowed by the earth when everything changed. They would salvage items from the past that often got big scrip for the town, in which the group got a cut, in between waiting for any potential Arkfalls. Going on missions with others made him feel comfortable because they reminded him of what it was like years ago when he was with the group, working together to achieve your goal and trusting the man or woman next to you with your life just as much as they're trusting their life with you. He missed working as a part of a team, and the missions the E-Reps had often helped.

Chase began to run through his head what he could do for gaining experience and possibly a little scrip. He knew he couldn't go to Top-Notch, especially since Rosa Rodriguez wanted him to help her kill Joe "Jackleg" Teach, which Chase felt he wasn't ready for. It was one thing to kill while you're defending yourself or when something critical was needed in a mission and killing was the only way to get it, it was another thing to help someone who wanted revenge.

"Revenge can get you killed a lot quicker than any critter alive," Chase remembered his father telling him, his voice he hadn't heard in eight years coming to the front of his mind once more.

In addition to Rosa, he avoided Top-Notch because of the fact that Eren Niden was there to inadvertently remind him of someone he lost, a weight that he continued to carry with him even after eight years. Chase couldn't avoid Eren, as she often ended up showing up during a couple of group missions. He could have gone to find Varus to see if he had any jobs open, but he couldn't stand the penny-pinching rat. San Francisco was out of the question because of the Dark Matter behemoth parked right at the end of the bridge. There was going back to the crash site of the stratocarrier that brought him and other hired guns to the Bay, but the fact that the E-Reps still were having the same issues to the point where the statocarrier's engines were still kicking on and off months after the initial crash didn't seem as appealing. He would have called that female Arkhunter that had inducted him into the Defiant Elite, but not only she didn't give him her hailer frequency number, he couldn't remember her name (though he did get the main frequency in which most of the clan chatted on). The only other options were to go looking for trouble, like finding a raider's camp and paying a little visit or finding a Hellbug's nest and clear it out, or wait for an Arkfall (which recently had increased with some Arkhunters getting their hands on the tech to call bigger pieces of the wrecks down).

He turned the key in the ignition and the Hemi started only after a couple of turns. Chase pulled out of the area onto the road, heading Northeast as "I Ain't Got No Home In This World Anymore" by Woody Guthrie came on over the sound system. His day started with him stumbling across what appeared to be an abandoned truck, which turned out to be an ambush by Raiders. Chase took them out with extreme prejudice. He took claim to any scrip and weaponry they left behind for the inconvenience of trying to get the drop on him. Thirty minutes later, he ended up clearing out Hellbugs at Happy Pow Farm with the farmers. He chuckled about the Iranthian woman who said that despite the problems Arkfalls caused, they were still a beautiful sight to see. He found a vendor on the road next to the farm, where he sold off the weapons, all he already picked up before, for extra scrip. It was a practice he learned during the first weeks there as a means to gather the money he needed for getting his roller. Out of boredom for a moment, he tried to beat a time trial, just falling 30 seconds under a previous record.

Chase found himself back at the Crater for lunch, where he ordered three Powburgers. He had worked up a bit of an appetite. He was in his second burger when EGO informed him of an incoming Arkfall. He literally ate the last one while going flat-out on the plains to finally catch up with the Arkfall. This was one of the shard-kind, which often yielded its minor rewards. When he got there, several others had gotten there too. He was happy that it wasn't a minor Arkfall, as they often resulted in everyone and everything coming out of the woodworks for it (or unlike one time, which he wished to forget). But, it still didn't mean that he was happy to see the 99ers that came up that they had to dispatch. As soon as it was over, he did like he did before, claiming any scrip, scrap, ammo and weapons to sell off to the vendor.

He got back into his Challenger, about to check back at the Muir Processing Plant to see if any group missions came up again when his hailer squawked at him. He pressed the answer button on the screen.

"This is Lonehart."

"Chase Lonehart?" the voice that came in asked. The static was thick at first as he adjusted the modulation.

"Yeah, this is Chase Lonehart," he repeated. "If you don't have any business with me or for me, then please don't call."

"Yes, I do have some business for you, Mr. Lonehart." It took a moment for him to recognize the female voice that came through the hailer.

"Sorry about that, Ms. Shondu," he replied. "I barely recognized your voice with the static on my end."

"I'd like to talk to you about a potential job. Please come to my consulate when you can."

The hailer went silent, the communication between them stopped. Chase was surprised that Ara Shondu wanted to speak with just him. He figured that with the thousands of Arkhunters in the bay alone, she would have picked someone with major skills. Chase knew where his EGO rating was, and knew there were those that had higher. He figured there were two possible reasons he called her: 1. she wanted him to do something that no other Arkhunter had experience in. 2. she wanted him to do something quietly and he just happen to be the one who came to mind. Someone expendable, someone who is a dime a dozen.

Not wanting to pass up a possible opportunity, Chase decided to give the benefit of the doubt and give her a chance to pitch what she needed him to do. He punched in the coordinates to 3827, 1563 and headed to it as "The Wanderer" by Dion and The Belmonts came on.

Location: Shondu's Consulate

By the time Chase reached the Consulate, the sun was already a couple of hours past high noon. There were guards and Arkhunters roaming around, some of them taking the advantage of the venders. He pulled himself out of the driver seat and made his way around the side of the building to the office area. Ara Shondu sat at her desk, leaning forward with the palms of her hands pressed together. She straightened up the moment she saw him.

"Hello again, Mr. Lonehart," she said. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise."

"Please, have a seat."

Chase took a seat across from her. He looked at her light orange eyes, they seem to almost glow even with the amount of light coming into the office. He took a brief notice of a thick packet in a battered manilla envelope sitting on the desk to her left, but turned his attention back to her when she spoke.

"Has everything been good with you, Mr. Lonehart?" she asked.

"Nothing but sunshine and moonlight," he replied. "So, what I can help the frontier ambassador with?"

She sat back in her chair.

"I see you want to get straight to business."

"Well, this clearly isn't a social call since you said you had business for me. Besides, I could be doing other things right now, like taking out some Hellbugs at Hill 88 or waiting for the E-Reps to send me on another group mission. But, for you, I'm sparing the time."

A small smile formed on her lips. Chase never felt like a bug under a microscope before the current moment. Not even Naj Oromo, the male Castithan that used to work with Chase, his father and the Cowboys, never brought out this particular feeling. The only intimidation he ever felt from a Casthithan was when he played cards against Datak Tarr during his brief stint at working in the McCawley mines in Defiance. Not even Tarr's wife ever made him feel like this.

"The reason why I called you is because of a certain type of skill set," she began. "I've seen thousands of Arkhunters in this area, meeting quite a few of them since the stratocarrier crash. I know that you know there are more Arkhunters with higher EGO ratings, higher skill sets and even clans dedicated to working as a team. But none of them equal up to you."

She stood up from her chair and moved over to the window facing out towards the ocean. She stood looking out for a moment without saying a word.

"Out of all the Arkhunters that roam this territory, none of them have openly admitted to having been a proficient historical salvage expert. That's why out of all those who have a greater skill set, you are here now. I am making a request for an item of personal interest."

Shondu finally turned and look at him.

"Are you familiar with television shows?" she asked.

"Barely."

"When I was very young, I remember watching reruns of an fiction-based Earth program. It was called _Farscape_. Are you familiar with it?"

"I can't say I am. I was born in 2011. I barely even know what was on when I was little."

"I used to watch _Farscape_ quite a lot when I was little. It inspired hope in me about possible unity between humans and Votans, even when I was so young. Even now, I still have memories of the characters and some of the situations. Due to the outbreak of the Pale Wars, I never had the chance to own a copy of it."

She moved back over to her desk, taking a seat on its corner as she looked at him.

"I've done some digging into your past to see if you were as good as you say. You and your father established 'The Cowboys', a Arkhunter/Historical Salvage crew of nine individuals. It was your recoveries from both Arkfall and ruins that allowed Freedom, Alabama to thrive after the Pale Wars were over. Amongst those items, you must have recovered dozens of pre-war items such as movies and TV shows, is that correct?"

"Sometimes we got lucky and we did."

"Do you do commission work for historical recovery?"

"These days, not so much. Everyone out here are more concerned about what comes from the Arkbelt than what they do from the ground, unless its gulanite. When it came to Freedom, we not only recovered items of historical value, but items the town could continue to use. Storage containers, furniture, vehicles, books… Anything that could still have a purpose nowadays. Most of the places you see out here that are comprised of parts and pieces of buildings had to be found by someone. That's pretty much what we did."

"What if I wanted you to recover a copy of the complete _Farscape_ series… What would it cost?"

"It depends on a lot of factors."

"Like what?"

"Format, for one. The last known formats before the war took out everything was Blu-Ray and DVD. Another factor is if the series can be recovered as a whole or in parts. In some cases, some shows had seasons that were individually released and may not be found at one location, which would have to be purchased or found from somewhere else. Also, depending on if the show completed its run and was widely released is another factor to take into account. Something that had been on the air around the time war broke out may have never gotten the chance to be released for home viewing."

"The show ran from the Earth years of 1999 to 2003, and a TV movie was released in 2004 to wrap up the show's main storyline according to the resources I have."

"It's more than likely the show was released for home viewing with that timeframe. There's a chance the show and the TV movie were released separately, which again brings me back to the second factor. Could possibly get lucky if the series was released in one full box set covering the show's run, or I might not find anything because a lot of ransacking occurred during the original outbreak of the Pale Wars. But the two biggest factors are where the site of recovery is located and what kind of dangers that accompany it."

Chase felt even more uncomfortable while she sat looking at him silently for a moment.

"You're not going to like it," she said. "It's in San Francisco."

He couldn't believe he heard what she said.

"San Francisco? As in in Dark Matter territory?"

She nodded.

"It's impossible. Especially with that that big-ass mech parked right at the bridge to the city. Even more so with Dark Matter crawling all over the place. You might as well be asking someone to commit suicide."

"I'm sure handling the Dark Matter would be easy for you, considering you handled a Volge squad by yourself."

"Ugh… That's just an urban legend. That never happened."

Chase had just lied to Ara Shondu about the squad of Volge she made mention of. The truth was that he came across a Minor Arkfall that had crashed a couple of months back with no sign of opposition or scavengers swarming the outside of it. He figured that someone was already inside looting or it may have already been looted. He decided to enter. What he didn't expect was to find a squad of Volge alive and well inside the Arkfall, all of them looking pissed that he had entered. Chase went through a nightmare that lasted 12 minutes out of his life, running around in circles to avoid being cornered, ducking and dodging blasts, and desperately trying to deliver some damage to them. He was out of rounds for the Matchlock Boomer, down to his last hand grenade and two rounds in his rifle when it came to the last one. Chase had begun to think that one of the two rounds had his name on it. He chugged the last grenade he had, a bio grenade, and it slowed the last one alive down enough for him to put one clean shot into its forehead. He had never gone through anything so difficult by himself before. He managed to recover some items for salvage and ran into someone who finally came in to see just him surrounded by recently dead Volge. After that, word spread like wildfire about Chase Lonehart taking on a whole squad of Volge by himself. All he wanted was to forget about what happened and move on, feeling that the truth would build up a legend he didn't want to be mistaken as and potentially ruin any work as a Arkhunter. Shondu's mentioning of the event was about the twenty-third time he heard anyone bring it up.

"Blu-Ray," Ara said. "I'd prefer Blu-Ray, but am willing to accept DVD if you have to do a cross between the two for the whole series and TV movie. And, I'm willing to give you 6,000 EGO points to go in, as well as an addition 6,000 upon your return and will accept whatever your first offer is for the recovery. Any incidentals, injuries or damages to your weapons and gear I also will cover."

Chase had to take a moment to contemplate this. His gut told him not to take the job, like how his gut told him not to accept the offer from the Von Bach Industries "talent agent" when he was offered a job that lead him to the Bay Area in the first place.

"You must be a true fan of the show if you're wanting to own a copy of it after so long," Chase said to her.

She nodded.

"Okay," he finally agreed. "But it's going to take some time. I need to do research, find out possible locations where I can look, any underground survey charts and I'm going to need to arrange some sort of way to get my Challenger into the city. If the place I need to reach is underground, I'm going to need the winch to get in and out quickly and the car in case problems show up."

"I already have that information for you," Ara told him. "When I had the background check done on you, I had my investigator ask your former salvage teammates about the normal prep for a historical salvage. The best possible place to find it is in a store that used to exist called Best Buy. In the remaining area of the city, there were two. One of them doesn't exist anymore, as the building is underwater. The only other building that exists used to be located off of Central Highway, between the Chiantown District and Potrero District."

She picked up the packet that had been resting on the desk and handed it to him.

"All the information you need should be in there. Also, I have arranged a transport for your vehicle so you do not have to worry about the Monolith at the bridge. Whenever you're ready to head out, let me know."

"Tell whoever you need to contact to be ready in two hours," Chase told her.

Chapter 2: _Dark Night_

Location: Bug 'n' Chug

Chase sat on the hood of his car outside of Bug 'n' Chug, checking over the information that Shondu gave him. EGO scanned the information as he looked over everything, including the original map of San Francisco and the current topographical map.

"You're taking a big risk," EGO told him. "But then again, this is a cakewalk in comparison to the Minor Arkfall."

"I thought I told you to not bring that up," he muttered. "EGO, with the address and information from the old map, can you locate where the store's approximate area on the current one?"

"Give me a second."

He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought of why he chose to do it. It would have been the very thing his father would have agreed to. One of the first things he learned from his father about salvage was performing a job as a means of laying the groundwork for a potential client. By doing the job, and being successful at it, leads to a client that is pleased. A client that is pleased will come back to you with other potential jobs instead of heading to a competitor. Or, in this case, laying the groundwork as the first operator for historical salvage in the Bay Area.

"Got it," EGO responded.

Chase looked at the current map, EGO displaying a little yellow box with an exclamation point in it at where the Best Buy used to reside.

"EGO, be prepared to adjust calculations for shift."

One of the things Chase learned was that for most cities, some or almost a majority of the buildings that weren't destroyed got swallowed by the Earth in the terraforming process. In some cases, the buildings sunk straight down. In others, it often resulted in a full tilt or a complete shift of the building as it sunk. A shift often kept the building level or at least with a slight tilt that was manageable to maneuver on. Sometimes the shift often lead a building to be anywhere between a few feet and a few yards over from where it was previously. Most often a shift started above the surface before dropping, while other have occurred while sinking. Chase recalled one instance where one of the buildings the Cowboys were looking for had shifted over the length two football fields as it was sinking.

He looked over the underground survey map on his PDA. The scans confirmed what he suspected. When it came to that building, it shifted over by a few yards while sinking, placing it closer to the downtown area than it had been previously.

"Location is updated and locked in. When we get to the city, we can go directly there."

Chase began looking over the recon on the Dark Matter, realizing the heavy activity in the surround area from where he needed to go.

"We may have to take an indirect route, EGO. With the firepower theses guys got, I don't wanna risk a confrontation if I have the option to. I want to keep our presence as zero profile as possible."

"Understood," it quipped.

He chuckled to himself as the thought crossed his mind.

_If only all relationships were as easy._

Chase pulled up to the dock at 4168, 3325, which was a a short distance north of Bug 'n' Chug as the sun began to set. The transport was waiting on him. It was a small car ferry, one capable to carry only three cars at a time with a ramp in front and ramp in the back for easy loading and unloading. There was a Sensoth who was piloting the boat. They waited until the sun was barely left on the horizon as it was setting before beginning to move. Chase checked the back seat to get the hardshell case he was going to put any of the items into. The foam lining was good enough to insure that if anything happened, it wouldn't damage the items inside. "Dark Night" by The Blasters played on the car's sound system as they made their way across the water to San Francisco. As they passed by, Chase could spot the Monolith still parked right at the end of the bridge, it's black silhouette against the blue, purple and red sky as the sun disappeared.

The coordinates that they were heading to were 4544, 5480 on the current map, which was low and secluded enough for a simple access to the land mass once known as the city by the bay. They had to navigate carefully, as the spot was blocked in by a couple of buildings and a parking structure that were submerged in the water. The Sensoth lowered the ramp for the Challenger to pull forward. Nightfall had been two hours completed at that point.

"How long will it take you to get back to here and be ready for loading?"

"A few minutes," the Sensoth replied. "If you're in a hurry, you may want to call in before hand and then duck and dodge before coming back."

"Keep your hailer on and any coffee brewing," Chase told Sensoth as he climbed into the driver seat.

Chase started the Hemi and started up the sharp incline until it leveled out at the top near a Hellbug nest. He pulled around and found a pathway that appeared to be a road. The EGO displayed a pink icon with the distance for the coordinates of 5403, 6011, where the Best Buy went down. Chase took a long way around to avoid detection, as the Downtown area was listed as one of the most active locations for the Dark Matter. He maneuvered around behind the area of Coit Tower until he found himself near the eastern edge of the downtown area. He pulled up an embankment and came to a stop right at the location on the other side. He could see the remains of the Transamerica Pyramid in the distance behind the car, and what appeared to be some sort of camp site by the Dark Matter a few yards ahead. It was a good thing that the spot he parked hid the car in shadow.

Chase knew that he had to stay in the shadow as the moon came up overhead. The Dark Matter didn't seem to have good night vision unless you were within a few feet in front of them. Due to the underground survey map, he discovered that the surface to building distance was nothing more than seven feet down. Since he was in the middle of danger, he had to go really old school when it came to digging. He had found a shovel in one of his way out of the Cronkhite Bunker after rescuing survivors of the New Freedom crash a few months back. The best option was to dig a big enough hole for him to fit in, but not big enough to waste time. Chase began to dig the hole down at the front of the Challenger so to use the winch to get down and back up. The dirt was so compacted that it was hard for the shovel to pierce. This was a good thing for him. He also had to stop and check to make sure that none of the Dark Matter recognized he was there a few times, with no indication he was spotted. He finally made it to what appeared to be the roof of the building about an hour later. He tried to see if he could punch through with the shovel to no avail, leading him to use a tried and true method.

One of the things he learned from his father about gaining access into a building is that if the roof was impossible to get through, was to modify a standard grenade. He had removed most of the powder from within it until there was a fraction of it left and replaced the standard pin-trigger system with a remote trigger. He placed the grenade right into the center of where he wanted to blast. Climbing out of the hole, he retrieved a steel plate from the car and lowered it into the hole until he was able to get it into place. He took some hand scoops of dirt to even the balance the plate so that it rested on top of the grenade without rolling off. After the plate was set, he began to fill in the hole. With the amount of powder in the grenade, it would create a hole and the dirt packed onto it would cushion the explosion and while the still compacted dirt around it would remain intact.

Chase moved around behind the Challenger, armed the remote and triggered it. There was a loud thud from seven feet below. He moved back around to the front, grabbing the winch hook and beginning to give himself some slack as he witnessed the dirt caving in on itself until the hole reappeared. He peeked down into it as he lowered the hook and cable with the hardshell case, tossing down an old Army dufflebag as well. He figured that since he was going in, any additional finds would be extra cash.

"EGO, should I need a quick exit, I'll give you a code phrase. The code phrase is 'pop it'. Once you hear that, you set off the winch at high speed until I'm at the top of the hole. Hear it, just winch up, no moment for acknowledging it. You follow me?"

"Understood."

Chase made his way down, carefully lowering himself in until his feet met solid ground. He turned on his flashlight to observe his surroundings. He found himself in what appeared to be a storage room, which was typical of most stores pre-war. He began to search to find the doorway, which would lead him to the main floor.

The room was massive, only a section of the building having gone slight tilt. The store appeared mostly intact, merchandise untouched for 20+ years. The outbreak of the Pale Wars pretty much swayed off any possible looters, leaving everything inside alone. It was an untapped goldmine of historical salvage and a monument of what used to be: a time before war, before massive death, before the Arkbelt and before the world had finally changed. Before he could even consider grabbing anything else, he needed to locate the item he was hired to find. He headed towards the home video section, beginning to look for it. He checked the TV section, looking over the dust covered and plastic wrapped Blu-Rays and DVDs. He could see he was located at the end of the list, since he spotted _Xena: Warrior Princess_. He followed the row up until he could find the section marked F.

And there it was, _Farscape: The Complete Series_, on Blu-Ray, a man and a woman, both humanoid in appearance, the title's words embossed in shiny reflective silver. Next to it, the mini-series on DVD, two copies of them each. Chase got the hardshell case open, packing in both copies of the show and miniseries and locking the lid tight. With the dufflebag, he began to pack in as much as he could for movies and CDs, along with a couple of fresh in the box iPads, some old computer parts he knew could be repurposed for some of the E-Reps' tech and several video games for the vintage X-Box and Playstation systems. Going off of the amount of items he managed to pack into that one dufflebag, he had almost 15,000 scrip worth of items, not including what he was going to get from Shondu. Finding buyers wouldn't be to hard, as there were many who wanted pre-war items, especially those who lived during that time. Most of those people resided in Columbia, but he knew of the brokers who often handled transactions and the delivery in the Bay Area, so that the goods would reach their destination.

Just as he completed zipping up the bag…

"Chase, we've got incoming!" EGO's voice echoed in his head.

He quickly pulled the strap up over his head and rested it on his shoulder, snatching the hardshell case up as he began to move quickly.

"What do we got?"

"The Dark Matter spotted us and are calling in reinforcements!"

Chase made it back to the hole, grabbing the hook for the winch and connected it too his belt. He held the grip on the handle for the hardshell case tightly as he prepared himself.

"EGO, POP IT!"

The winch came to life at full speed, yanking Chase up the hole at rapid speed. He finally reached the top, grabbing ahold of the push bar as the winch came to a stop. He sat the case to the side and pulled himself out of the hole. He managed to get disconnected from the winch and take cover as shots were fired. Chase opened the driver side door, retrieved his weapon, aimed at the approaching Dark Matter Enforcers and Bulwarks from the camp across from him and opened fire. The SAW rattled as he fired radioactive rounds at them. He ducked as they returned fired, rounds bouncing off the shield around the car. He fired a few more rounds to distract the Dark Matter long enough for him to grab the case and pull it to safety. He moved back to the driver side of the car, shoving the duffle bag and the case into the backseat. Chase grabbed his Matchlock Boomer, firing one round into the hole in front of the car. The round detonated and collapsed the hole that Chase had just gotten clear from, sealing it from any further plundering.

He got into the Challenger, cranking up the Hemi and flooring it. He took off towards the road in the distance, turning to head north towards the remains of the Bay Bridge with intentions of going back around Coit Tower and take the same route towards the extraction point. That idea went out the window the moment he spotted the Dark Matter APC that was approaching. Chase slammed on the brakes, coming to a complete stop before, throwing the car into reverse and performing what his father called a "J-turn." He gunned the accelerator as the car went backwards, him turning the wheel and the car swinging to the left. He yanked up on the emergency brake and turned the wheel back to correct. He shoved the car into gear, popped the clutch and disengaged the emergency brake for a smooth turn around, heading southbound on the road with the APC hot on his heels.

He knew he needed to ditch the APC, but couldn't figure out how as he threaded the needle at the Baseball Stadium Ruins, continuing on southward as he passed the rotting bones of buildings on what used to be an asphalt road. He kept looking at the rear view, the APC still on him. He hit the boost in an attempt to gain some speed, but for some reason the boost wasn't engaging.

"EGO, what's going on with the boost?"

EGO was silent for a moment. Chase already knew the probability of what it was about to respond with, but he kept the accelerator gunning.

"It appears that the connection to the boost has become severed," EGO responded. "It may have happened during the transport across the bay."

_Damn it!_ was the only thought that went through his head.

"EGO, contact the boat and tell him to be at the extraction point ASAP!"

The Challenger lurched forward, Chase almost losing control of the car. The APC had rammed into the back of the car in an effort to cause him to wreck. He attempted to swerve to keep the car from going off the road, but the APC struck the car again, the rear wheels losing their grip. The APC continued to follow the road as the Challenger bounced off of it and crashed into the remains of a building.

For a moment, Chase was out of it but he pushed himself back against the seat. He pulled at the collar of the E-Rep Peacekeeper outfit, trying to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him. He finally got to breathe again.

"EGO," he struggled with saying. "Show extraction point coordinates."

He to his right to see the pink icon, the number of 1.84 km at the far off distance. That view was blocked with the sight of the APC pulling up and the Enforcers deploying from within it. Chase focused on getting the car back in motion. He knew that as long as he sat still, the more than likely his odds of surviving would drop drastically. He didn't go through all of what he's gone through in his life, just to die at this moment.

The Dark Matter began firing at the Challenger, the shield keeping the blasts at bay. The display on the dash showed the shield's progression slowly dropping. Chase threw the shifter into reverse, the car lurching back and catching ahold of something underneath it. He knew right away that a piece of the building had the car stuck. He tried rolling forward, the front of the car smashing into the remains of the wall in front of the car, before throwing it into reverse once more and gunning it. The Challenger violently jerked when it rolled back, Chase feeling the front of the car bouncing about an inch off the ground. He looked at the display again, the shield's progression at 0% and now the structural counter dropping at 70%… 69%…. 68%…. He knew that the moment that the structural hit 0%, the car was going to blow up, taking everything inside with it. He shoved the shifter back into first, gunning the engine and slamming the car once more into the wall.

_Come on_, Chase thought to himself. _We've gotten out of tougher situations than this._

He shoved the shifter back into reverse, looking at the structural counter dropping into 40%… 39%… 38%… The car roar back in the short distance, and the car's front jumping high as it cleared whatever it was that held it in place. He turned the car towards the direction of the pink icon and took off, kicking up dirt as the Challenger roared past the APC. Chase knew it would take a short bit of time for them to load back into the APC and to follow him. By the time they would, Chase would already be squeezing through the remains of narrow streets. The distance number of the icon began to drop down. He was beginning to feel a bit of hope until he felt the car lurch forward again. The APC finally caught back up to him, riding his bumper.

Chase ran through his options about how to get the hell out of the situation, which needed a quick resolution before he can reach the extraction point. He noticed up ahead more ruins at a distance, with what appeared to be some sort of archway with green tiling. The map name came up: Chinatown. Even at a distance, he noticed the gap of the archway didn't seem big enough for the APC, but did seem wide enough for the Challenger. The distance between the structure and the approaching vehicles was closing fast. He knew what he had to do.

Chase began to slow down, allowing for the Dark Matter APC the chance to get along side the Challenger. He knew this was going to require what his father called "Cracker Jack timing." The APC began to push into the driver side of the car it a desperate attempt to knock him back off the path. Chase kept the car forcing against the APC, hoping that it can hold long enough until approaching the archway.

"Chase, what are you doing?" EGO piped up.

"Above to give these jerk-weeds the finger, EGO."

Now the vehicles were within a few yards… a few feet…. Chase then applied more of the gas pedal to gain a little more speed, leaving no room for the APC to fit through the opening as the Challenger went through. The APC crashed against the archway, coming to a complete stop.

Chase continued to follow the road, keeping the gas pedal floored until he recognized the surroundings. He kept going until he finally reached the destination. The car bounced down the slope, the boat sitting with its ramp down and ready to receive the car. He got it in, getting out of the car with his SAW ready.

"Get us out of here, now!" he yelled at the Sensoth, aiming at the top of the hill.

Chase didn't want to make the mistake of having the Dark Matter show up and use the high ground to start putting holes in the boat. The Sensoth got the ramp up and began to get the boat out of the area, moving around the buildings in the water until it was cleared of them. Chase lowered his gun and breathed a sigh of relief, looking off at the Monolith as they passed by the remains of the Golden Gate once more.

_Some days, it's like the world is tryin' to kill me._

He laid down on the hood, feeling the cool wind blowing against his face. He looked up at the sky, seeing the stars and the moon.

_You can keep trying. But this world ain't gettin' me down._

Chapter 3: _The Last Pale Light in the West_

Location: Ara Shondu's Consulate

Chase had been driving around all night, hoping to kill time until the morning. He had been until sunrise, running off of only a few hours worth of sleep and avoiding any possible threats. He pulled up to the consulate building once again, retrieving the case from the passenger seat. He carried the SAW with him, having one of his stun grenades tucked up underneath his armor. He wasn't sure if she was going to pay him or try to get the drop on him. But he was smart enough to rather go in with weapons and look like a fool than to not go in and possibly have his dead body carried out. Another thing he learned from his father about historical salvage was that it was better to be cautious and paranoid than to drop your guard and get sideswiped.

He made his way around to the office area, finding Ara sitting at her desk working on paperwork. Chase remembered his father telling him about how paperwork was more common in the past. Nowadays, you'd encounter paperwork for small-town businessmen and politicians. He even remembered the contract that his father had made for Freedom when it came to historical salvage and arkfall recovery. He stepped up to the desk, the action catching Ara's attention.

"You're back," she said. She took a brief moment to notice the SAW hanging from its strap from his shoulder. "What's that for?"

"Safety," Chase replied.

"For you or me?"

"Yes," was the only word he gave.

She sat the pen down.

"Professional caution," she responded. "I understand that. So, shall we get to business?"

Chase looked at her for a moment before he placed the case in front of her. She took a moment to reach for it, but drew back for a moment in thought. Ara preceded to reach forward, popped the latches holding the lid on and opened it. Chase noticed how she peered into the case, how she handled the Blu-Rays and DVDs as if they were fragile paper. He knew right away she had been waiting to see this, much like how he's seen this look on several people's faces back in Freedom. He remember Mrs. Culborune, who looked she was on the verge of tears when his father delivered to her what appeared to be her great-grandmother's broach, which had been swallowed by the Earth along with her family home towards those last months after the Arks fell and the terraforming was complete. He remembered how she had to ask if it was a dream, because she couldn't believe it. It was the look that was common for someone who had once lost something and had finally be found once again.

"Would you like a moment?" he asked. He often knew that some people needed a moment to recover themselves from the realization that what they had been looking for had finally rested in their hands.

She shook her head, bringing her hand up to the cover of her eye to wipe away any possibility of a tear.

"There were only two copies each. I know you asked for a copy of the series and the TV movie, but as you can see, I brought both," he told her. "I decided to bring both in case if you decide to keep both, one as your primary and the other as a backup if any of the discs were to be damaged. Or you can even trade or sell the duplicate, which you can get a hefty amount of scrip for. I just provide the options for you, and what you decide to do with it afterwards is up to you."

"You've certainly gone above and beyond the call of duty," she told him. "I'll keep both of them. I guess now is the matter of payment. How much is this going to cost me?"

Chase knew he had the option of charging whatever he wanted, taking into account the trouble he had just trying to get the hell out of San Francisco. But, after some considering, he came to a conclusion, a thought he realized was the best option, a sign of good faith.

"One thousand scrip," he told her.

"One thousand scrip? That seems like you're asking for so little for so much trouble you gone through to get this."

"Consider it a one-time, new customer deal," Chase told her. "As a means of knowing that you're getting more than just an item, that you're getting a guarantee of the best service available and professionalism that comes with the Lonehart name. The next time, I will be charging the regular pricing though. So, this is a bit of a good faith pricing, to insure you're satisfied enough to trust me for future endeavors."

"That's very kind of you," she said. "I don't feel that 1,000 is enough. If you like, you're welcome to stay here for a night as compensation. You're more than welcome join me for dinner."

Chase considered the possibility of staying. He remembered how Castithans tended to keep their homes nice and clean. The thing that still didn't make any sense to him was the communal bathing. Some would probably take Ara up on that offer, considering she being a beautiful woman.

"Thank you for the offer," he said. "But I've got another job I've got to complete."

She nodded in understanding. Chase handed over his scrip chip, which she loaded with the 1,000 scrip he requested. She also gave him the second 6,000 EGO points she had offered, having to have given the first 6,000 before the job. She slide it back to him with Chase pocketing the chip. He picked up the case, looking at the merchandise recovered and delivered. It brought back many great memories of the job he did so many times in his younger years.

"Thank you for your services," Ara said to him.

"You're welcome. And I hope you consider my services for future endeavors."

He headed out, the SAW tapping against his back and the empty case tapping against his leg. Chase began to think about Rosa Rodriguez, about how she wanted help in taking out Jackleg Teach. Chase knew that she wanted revenge for the death of her father, but he came to a simple conclusion: everyone is looking for some sort of salvage. A salvage of an item or a salvage of emotion, there was no difference. He pulled out his hailer, tuning into the frequency for Rodriguez. He pressed the call button, the hailer squeaking twice.

"Rodriguez, Top-Notch Toolworks," her voice came over the hailer.

"Ms. Rodriguez, this is Chase Lonehart," he spoke into the hailer. "I'm coming to Top-Notch for two reasons. The first reason is I'm going to need you to have a look at my Challenger's boost. It's gone dead and I have the money to pay for it."

There was a silence over the hailer for a moment.

"Okay," she responded. "What's the second reason?"

Chase opened the door to the Challenger, sliding into the driver seat. He programed the route to Top-Notch into the car's GPS. He cranked up the car, with the tail end of _The Last Pale Light in the West_ by Ben Nichols played.

"You and I are gonna give a bullet to a bad man," was his reply, ending the call.

He began to follow the dirt pathway from the consulate, turning south towards Top-Notch. Ben Nichols' voice played over the sound system of the Challenger, like so many songs before it. Chase remembered those days so long ago, riding shotgun in his father's roller, being followed by three more humans, two Iranthians, the Castithan, and the Bioman on the way to some building swallowed by the Earth or at flat-out speed towards an Arkfall. Always chasing forward, not looking back until the job was done. But here he was, doing almost the same thing once again, heading for a task, heading for a goal or just trying to bring closure for someone. Always chasing after that one distant goal long on the horizon, like that guy Gatsby from that novel he picked up from the library a long time ago in that town called Freedom, Alabama. Or as Ben Nichols best put it:

_And I ask, for no redemption_

_In this cold and barren place_

_Still I see a faint reflection_

_And so by it, I got my way_

_The last pale light in the west_

_The last pale light in the west_


End file.
